Town of Shady Dale

Shady Dale, Georgia, a town eight miles northeast of Monticello, Georgia, was first incorporated in 1882. An 1880 census shows the population as 160. Built at the approximate middle of a rail line that passed from Augusta to Milledgeville to Covington and Atlanta, Shady Dale enjoyed prosperity as an important shipping point for cotton, peaches, and farm machinery.

Merchant's buildings lined the streets of the town and a large hotel owned by Matthew Whitfield, a wealthy Georgia State legislator, stood regally as its crowning jewel. The Old Shady Dale Hotel housed Gen. William Sherman during the time his army passed through Jasper County on his march through Georgia.

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